Play mat with integrated lights

ABSTRACT

A play mat formed of two layers having interactive features such as blinking lights. The play mat contains electrical components and light sources that housed between the two layers. Light bulbs or LEDs are aligned with apertures in the upper layer to project light during play.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Prov. Appl. 63/040,305 filed on Jun. 17, 2020, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to a play mat with decorative markings and integrated lights that correspond with the decorative markings.

BACKGROUND

Flooring coverings, such as carpets and rugs, can be made with natural fibers or chemical synthetic fiber class raw materials, such as cotton, fiber crops, hair, silk, yarns, and the like. They may be made manually or mechanically—e.g., knitted, synthetic tufts, or ground laying formed by weaving.

Such flooring coverings have been in common use in houses, hotels, meeting rooms, public places of entertainment, gymnasiums, show rooms, vehicles, ships, airplanes for noise reduction, heat insulation, decoration, preventing slippage, and/or air pollution reduction.

More recently, protective floor coverings have been used as play mats for young children for the above-noted purposes in addition to providing soft cushioning to reduce risks of injury. Some play mats are provided with graphics representing a city or similar geographic area. With the continuing development of more specialized play mats for this and other uses, there is a need for innovation on additional interactive features provided in such specialty play mats.

SUMMARY

To address the above, the present disclosure is generally related to a play mat, such as a play rug, a cushioned play mat, and the like, that incorporates integrated lights to correspond with decorative patterns on the play mat to provide an interactive play surface.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a play mat is provided with a plurality of electrical connections (e.g., thin wires) loops, a plurality of lights (e.g., light emitting diode, “LED”) on each electrical connection loop, a circuit board controller with a drive module electrically connected to the electrical connection loops, and a power source.

The play mat is formed of an upper rug sheet and a lower backing sheet. Electrical components are provided in the area between the upper and lower sheets and are configured for delivering electric current from a power source to one or more light sources (e.g. LEDs) or similar devices.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a play mat formed of

-   -   an upper sheet having a top surface and an underside surface;     -   a lower sheet having a top surface and an underside surface         whereby the respective sheets form a pocket defined by the         underside surface of the upper sheet and upper surface of the         lower sheet.

It is a further object of the invention to provide electrical conductors connected to LEDs or other light sources within the pocket between the layers.

It is yet a further object of the invention to provide graphical representations of one or more light fixtures such as a traffic light or street light on the upper surface of the top sheet and to create an aperture disposed within the graphic representation of the light fixtures.

It is still another object of the invention to align a light source such as an LED with the aperture disposed in the graphic representation in order to project light outward from the playing (i.e. upper) surface of the play mat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with references to the accompanying figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a play mat according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the play mat of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a broken away bottom view illustrating an interior of the play mat of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure is generally related to an improved play mat with an inter-active play surface. To achieve this objective, according to an exemplary embodiment, a play mat incorporates integrated lighting elements that correspond with the decorative markings on the play mat for an integrated interactive play surface.

In the disclosure below, reference numerals with a trailing letter r or g denote lighting elements having respective red and green colors according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Other lighting elements with different colors, shapes, intensities, durations, or other characteristics, may be used without departure from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating an exterior configuration of a play mat 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the play mat 100 is shown having a printed representation of a geographic segment, including a roadway 130, grass patches 135, and cross walks 140. As also shown, play mat 100 incorporates lighting elements 115 r and 115 g in correspondence with a decorative pattern that illustrates corresponding traffic lights 120. The play mat 100 is provided with an “on-off” button 125, that is connected to the lighting elements for controlling the same.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, play mat 100 may comprise two woven, rubber, or vinyl sheets stacked together to form a thin inner enclosure that accommodates lighting elements 115 r and 115 g and their corresponding power connections, as will be described in further detail below. The decorative elements, such as traffic lights 120, roadway 130, grass patches 135, cross walks 140, may be incorporated to the top surface of play mat 100 by woven fibers having different colors, a printed and/or laminated pattern layer, and the like. The two sheets that form play mat 100 may also be integrated into a singular mat with an internal pocket that accommodates the internal connections between the lighting elements 115 r and 115 g.

As will be detailed below, lighting elements 115 r and 115 g within mat 100 are arranged into two circuit loops for powering and controlling their illumination. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, lighting elements 115 r and 115 g may be light emitting diodes (LEDs), or the like, having respective red and green colors that are fitted through apertures in the top surface of mat 100 or that are held in place under transparent windows in the top surface of mat 100. In embodiments, additional yellow LEDs (not shown) may be included in mat 100 for the respective yellow lights for traffic lights 120. In embodiments, lights having other colors may be used for different decorative patterns.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of play mat 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the bottom of play mat 100 incorporates a pattern of minute protrusions 200, which may be formed by resilient material such as rubber and the like, for increasing friction between the underside of mat 100 and any surface on which mat 100 may be placed. For example, play mat 100 may be placed on wooden or carpeted flooring (not shown) and pattern 200 would prevent slippage and hold play mat 100 in place. For simplicity of illustration, pattern 200 is not shown for the entire bottom surface of play mat 100 in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 further illustrates an opening 205 from accessing the interior of play mat 100 and through which a power source 210—which may be a rechargeable battery pack, a housing for accommodating consumer batteries, or the like—may be accessed by a user. As shown, in embodiments of the present disclosure, power source 210 is a slender battery pack having a substantially flat profile so that it may fit non-obtrusively within opening 205. In embodiments of the present disclosure, the power pack is incrementally thicker than a flat battery, such as, for example, a lithium ion battery. It will be understood that power source 210 extends from a wire of sufficient length such that power source 210 may be removed from the opening 205 and handled by a user (for example, so that the use may switch the device “on” of “off” or change the batteries). Thus, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, commercial batteries may be replaced for power source 210 through opening 205 and, when in use, power source 210 may be placed back into the interior of play mat 100 through opening 205 or a similar pockets sized and shaped to receive a power source. In embodiments, opening 205 may incorporate hook and loop fasteners, a zipper, or the like (not shown) for sealing and unsealing opening 205.

FIG. 3 is a bottom sectional perspective view of mat 100 that illustrates an internal arrangement of lighting elements 115 r and 115 g within the mat 100 shown in FIG. 1. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, mat 100 may comprise two (top and bottom) sheets 305 and 310 of woven fabric, rubber, vinyl, or the like, between which is formed an internal enclosure 312 for accommodating the lighting elements 115 r and 115 g illustrated in FIG. 1B. The two (top and bottom) sheets 305 and 310 may be integrated into one unit wherein internal enclosure 312 houses the lighting elements 115 r and 115 g in the arrangement shown in FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, lighting elements 115 r and 115 g may be arranged in two or more respective loops that trace corresponding locations of traffic lights 120 shown in FIG. 1. As further illustrated in FIG. 3, lighting elements 115 r and 115 g are connected to a circuit board 315 via respective electrical connections 320 r and 320 g, which may be thin wires or the like, that form the respective loops of lighting elements 115 r and 115 g. Circuit board 315 is, in turn, coupled to power source 210. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, circuit board 315 incorporates a power button (not shown), which may be a button switch or the like, that is disposed under top sheet 305 at “on-off” button 125 shown in FIG. 1. In embodiments of the present disclosure, a spring-biased “on-off” switch having a top engaging surface that is disposed below and substantially parallel to the “ON” button 125. Accordingly, a user may press on “on-off” button 125 on the top surface of mat 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 to engage the spring-biased “on-off” switch and thereby, respectively, turn lighting elements 115 r and 115 g on and off.

Referring back to FIG. 3, circuit board 315 is powered by power source 210 and includes a control circuit (not shown) for controlling the illumination of lighting elements 115 r and 115 g, which are also powered by power source 320 via a drive module (not shown) connected through respective electrical connection loops 320 r and 320 g. According to an exemplary embodiment, the drive module is incorporated with the control circuit at circuit board 315. A timing circuit (not shown) may be included on circuit board 315 to control the illumination durations, on-and-off durations, flashes, or the like, of lighting elements 115 r and 115 g. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, circuit board 315 may incorporate a logic controller (not shown) for controlling individual lighting elements 115 r and 115 g based on a preprogrammed schedule or signals from additional sensors (not shown) integrated at respective locations corresponding to the top surface of play mat 100 shown in FIG. 1.

It will be understood that thin wires or the like, that form the electric connections are sufficiently thin to be sandwiched between the top sheet and bottom sheet that forms play mat 100 and not cause any bulging. In embodiments of the invention, wires (e.g. electric connection 320 r) are glued to the underside of the top sheet 305. Electrical connection can additional or alternatively be sewn or otherwise adhere to the underside surface of top sheet 305.

While particular embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown and described in detail, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements thereon may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. It is therefore intended to cover all such modifications and improvements that are within the scope of this disclosure. 

What is claimed is: 1) A play mat, comprising: an upper sheet comprising a top surface and an underside surface; a lower sheet comprising a top surface and an underside surface; a pocket defined by the underside surface of the upper sheet and upper surface of the lower sheet; electrical conductors provided in the pocket; the upper sheet comprising a graphic representation of a traffic light and an aperture disposed within the graphic representation of the traffic light; a light source disposed in the pocket in substantial alignment with the aperture; and a power source electrically connected to the electrical conductors. 2) The play mat of claim 1 whereby the electrical conductors are attached to the underside surface of the upper sheet. 3) The play mat of claim 1, whereby the power source is a battery pack. 4) The play mat of claim 3 further comprising an electrical controller disposed between the power source and the light source. 5) The play mat of claim 4, whereby the light source is one of a light bulb or an LED. 6) The play mat of claim 3, whereby the underside surface of the lower sheet comprises a pouch. 7) The play mat of claim 6, whereby the power pack is stored within the pouch. 8) The play mat of claim 7, whereby the power pack is removable from the pouch. 